William Boyd's Keane-inspired story
16 Jun 2012
The Guardian continues its William Boyd and Keane-related coverage with The Sovereign Light Café, a short story by William Boyd inspired by the song of the same name. Click here to read it.
You can also read Boyd's piece about why he loves Keane by clicking here. And you can see his interview Tim and Tom above.
The short story also appears in the deluxe book edition of Strangeland.
Comments (30)
Why do all of Keane's fanfics and such usually end up with rape and incest?
There are different shades of blue..different types of pains and sorrows
My uncle passed away recently. As I followed the funeral procession I listened to Sea Fog, The Starting Line.. In my darkest days..you accompany me. I thought of my dad and how difficult it must be for him to think of his own mortality.... most of his family and friends (of his generation) who were a big part of his life..are no more…this is his strange land..
@moira196 I also read these comments and all I can say is that this is how the world goes. Whenever I read an article on a newspaper (in Italy, UK, US,& Latin America as well), I see a pattern from commenters around the globe and all I can see are harsh comments on just about any subject. The fact that there are many actually “take their precious time” to write nasty things about someone, just makes me wonder how many frustrated, envious people are there. Keane have succeeded in everything they have done, without compromising their identity and are not afraid to not be perceived as “cool” as other bands. I guess commenters use these means of communication to pour out their frustrations. This frustration leads to arrogance in their comments since - in the end - they are insecure due to their failures.
Sadly, I think that Tom when younger and more insecure did take these kinds of comments to heart (he says so in the interview from a few years ago which is on the press/web snippets thread). Hope that his experiences in therapy taught him not to seek out the bad and focus on the good things.
KEANE SON UNOS GENIOS CON MUCHA MAGIA, ORIGINALIDAD EN SUS CANCIONES Y MUY BUENA GENTE. CUÁNDO TIENEN PENSADO VENIR A ARGENTINA? LOS ESPERAMOS. GRACIAS Y BESOS.
@moira196: I think the problem with these people is not that they can´t see what we like in Keane, what aggravates me is they consider themselves the arbiters of taste and take the liberty of sneering at any other gusto than their own. But they will be the first to cry for tolerance in political issues, not realizing that tolerance and respect for others have to be learned from the scratch: By respecting other people´s tastes in music, for example.
HOW INTERESTING HISTORY. TOM I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD
Great story to match a fantastic song. Strangeland is the best. John x
Shame about the nasty comments at the bottom of The Guardian article. Please don't take them to heart Tom, Tim., Rich & Jessie- if these people can't see what talented, intelligent, articulate people you are, it's their problem not yours. There are plenty of people out here who do see it - they are the ones that really matter!! Looking forward to coming to see you in Hastings on 6th July.x
I think the text fits so well with the song. Sovereign Light Cafe is not only a place, is a dream, a hope, a shelter. A place to find yourself , your true nature.... Congrats Mr. Boyd for this story. Kisses from Madrid
@thekidmarvel, de nada :D.
@Regina Brz muchas gracias :D
A very intriguing story, just as the way Boyd describes this area of England (South-east). The more I read and find out about this area, the more I want to go there. For now, I can only listen to Keane's album and dream about getting a warm cup of tea with a sandwich at the Sovereign Light Café while staring at the serene grey sea.
sous le charme
vraiment je ne comprend pas pourquoi la totalite de mon message ne s'affiche pas sur le site !!!! Mr william BOYD'S vous aussi vous etes tombé sous le charme
fin de mon message précédent Mr william BOYD'S vous aussi vous etes tombé sous le charme
SALUTS AMIIS°°° Je n'ai pas encore lue entierement l' histoire de lalbum(( Sorry ** mon Anglais n'est pas terrible )) mais je ne doute pas que la fin celle ci soit t tres jolie *** surtout si elle se rapporte à la chanson SOVEREIGN LIGHT CAFE qui est géniale !!!!! Mr william BOYD'S vous aussi vous etes tombé sous le charme
Sorry for the capital letters. It was not intentional.
No disrespect meant towards William Boyd, but I THINK keane are prolific.
@thekidmarvel it is one word that means "strange" "land" si tu eres hispano hablante "tierra extraña" Saludos, Regina.
LOVELY!!!!!!!!!
High praise from a man of words.
I can't express how much I was touched by Boyd's words. So happy that I already knew him since Tim's Book Club included his Any Human Heart ;-) All the best from The Frog Prince Squad \o/
Could it be better? Imposible! ♥
Ok, I did enjoy the story, but it is a little too raunchy for an album like Strangeland...
did someone can tell me if "strangeland" is one word or is divided like "strange" and "land"? because my poor english, i don't really know, if i´m getting the right meaning of the word xD
Nice short story, I really like William Boyd's style of writing. It will be great if the SLC has sandwiches with Tim, Tom, Rich & Jesse's names.Beijos, Regina.
但是 I like this！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！ ！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！ ！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！ ！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！ I wanted to make the screen！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！ ！！！！！！！！！
沙发！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！s ofa I will say that I am not understand?
